The Casquette Girls

It is just two months after “the Storm” hit New Orleans, and the devastation is thorough and widespread. But residents who love their city are starting to trickle back into town to try to pick up the pieces and start the long, slow process of rebuilding. Two of these are Adele and her father, who live in the French Quarter in a very old building that survived storms and fires. Adele had been shipped off to live with her mother in France, who left years earlier and is practically a stranger, and she is eager to get back home.

Adele and her dad are relatively blessed. Their home still stands, they have a generator—they can clean up and live there. Many were not so lucky; the city is largely empty. A few of the neighborhood’s characters are back, and some outsiders have come to town to help rebuild, including one young man named Isaac who takes an interest in Adele right away, and a couple of gorgeous Italian brothers trying to find family members who had been lost.

As Adele cleans her house and deals with not having her best friend in town with her, and — very unwillingly — has to attend the snooty local Catholic school because her own arts school is still closed, she gets pulled into odd events and magic, including supernatural creatures who have managed to invade the “Vieux Carré” and start killing people. She discovers some secrets about the past and her own heritage and realizes she must do something to stop the carnage that is wreaking havoc in her beloved city, but it could cost her not only those she loves, but her very life.

The Casquette Girls is an entertaining, engaging story that is rich in historical detail and has a lush setting. Readers who love magic and the supernatural will particularly eat up this well-written novel. I thoroughly enjoyed it and look forward to more.